India’s Premier Institutions Are Not Immune to Misogyny
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), widely regarded as the epitome of academic excellence in India, are often painted as beacons of meritocracy. Cracking the IIT-JEE is considered one of the toughest academic feats in the world. For India’s aspirational middle class, admission into an IIT isn’t just about a career, it’s a cultural victory. Education is seen as the gateway to social mobility, and sending a child to an IIT is symbolic of having raised a responsible, successful, and socially contributing citizen.
But what happens when these very institutions expected to lead the country forward cling to outdated gender roles and deeply entrenched patriarchal structures?
The Misguided Initiative: “Campus Mothers”
Recently, IIT Kharagpur introduced a well-intentioned but poorly thought-out initiative called Campus Mothers. Under this program, female staff members teaching and non-teaching are being trained to provide emotional support and informal counselling to students facing mental health issues.
Let that sink in.
Rather than hiring qualified mental health professionals, the institution has decided that any woman, by virtue of her maternal instincts, is equipped to address students’ psychological struggles. This decision is not just flawed; it’s dangerously regressive.
Motherhood as a Tool for Emotional Labor
The program assumes that because women have maternal instincts, they are naturally suited to provide emotional care even when they are not trained psychologists or therapists. A female professor, who may be juggling the same rigorous academic responsibilities as her male colleagues, is now being asked to take on an additional, unpaid, and emotionally taxing role just because she is a woman. What this implies is stark: her professional identity comes second to her gender role. She’s not a professor first she’s a mother figure. This reinforces the age-old belief that a woman’s primary duty, even in a professional space, is to care for others.
Mental Health Is Not a Gendered Issue
Mental health care is not a conversation over tea. It cannot be reduced to a chat with someone who “feels like a mother.” Depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, these are clinical issues that require trained mental health professionals. The belief that mental health concerns can be alleviated by simply talking to a woman on campus is not only dismissive but dangerously reductive. It trivializes the years of activism and awareness built around student’s mental health, especially in high-pressure academic institutions like the IITs.
Why Are Men Exempt from Emotional Labor?
Another glaring question: why only women? Are men on campus incapable of being emotionally available? Can they not provide support or lend an empathetic ear? If emotional labour is essential and it truly is, why does the burden fall only on one gender?
By assigning the task of counselling solely to women, the institution not only reinforces gender stereotypes but also absolves men of any responsibility to contribute to a nurturing environment. It’s not just lazy policy it’s gendered injustice.
The Irony: IITs as a Root Cause of Mental Health Crisis
Ironically, it is institutions like the IITs that are often the root cause of students’ mental health crises. These students have survived the hyper-competitive coaching culture, witnessed friends lose their lives to academic pressure, and endured years of emotional suppression in the name of success. The campus itself via its cut-throat environment, toxic masculinity, and rigid hierarchies plays a role in deteriorating student’s well-being.
Now, instead of acknowledging this systemic pressure and bringing in structural reforms, IIT chooses the convenient route of emotional outsourcing onto women.
Tokenism in the Name of Well-being
This isn’t just about one policy. It is about the deeper institutional mindset that treats mental health as a side issue rather than a critical concern. It’s about policies that seek band-aid solutions instead of meaningful reform.
Yes, intent matters. But intent clouded by patriarchy does more harm than good.
The Way Forward: What Needs to Change
1. Hire Professionals, Not Stereotypes: Mental health professionals, not mother figures, should be leading student counselling initiatives.
2. Gender-Neutral Emotional Labor: Create support systems that encourage participation from all genders. Emotional intelligence is not exclusive to women.
3. Structural Reforms in Academic Culture: Address the root causes i.e., academic pressure, isolation, toxic competition rather than just the symptoms.
4. Recognize Emotional Labor as Work: If emotional support is being offered by staff, it must be recognized, valued, and fairly compensated regardless of gender.
Conclusion: Progress Isn’t Just About Placements
The real test of a progressive academic institution is not how many students it places in top companies, but how well it takes care of the minds it shapes. It’s time IITs evolve beyond metrics and merit and acknowledge the deeply gendered structures they operate within. Because no matter how many women you train as “Campus Mothers,” if the foundation is patriarchal, the system remains broken.